A very popular fancy Japanese restaurant.

Mitsui’s entrance:

I took this photo after dinner when it was closing, but usually the signs above the restaurant are lit up and bright green.

Right when I entered, I was greeted by gigantic king crabs!


Mitsui offers several different seating areas:

The main room near the entrance is largest and has many tables. We made a reservation only a few hours before, and as it was a holiday that day (father’s day) we were seated at the bar since there were no more tables available. Later we were moved to a more private dining area (right photo) when someone cancelled their reservation. This particular room/area had only 2 tables and the lighting was very dark with bright spotlights. There are also full rooms available for one big table. Those seemed to be more traditional in decor, with light yellow wood, and cloth curtained doorways.

On to the food!

Sashimi (Deluxe) NT$450

Big thick pieces of soft and fresh fish served on ice. I can’t remember the last time I had sashimi on ice, but I really liked the extra cold temperature. The light yellow thing in the front center that looks like a piece of chicken tasted very fishy and was very chewy. I’m not sure what it was? Maybe sea urchin? The shrimp was also raw and fishy.
Continue eating..

French, American, brunch, and sushi, all in one.

Entrance:

A pretty large restaurant– you can’t miss it– on the corner of 57th St. and 6th Avenue. All of the doors were open when I went, and even while sitting inside, I felt that I was outdoors with the heavy noise of traffic, and the chilly morning breeze reaching every corner.

Interior:

Warm rich colors, table cloths, and potted plants gave it an old-world European hotel-y feel.

Latte $3.75

A good way to start off breakfast, and warm up a bit! Rich foamy coffee that came with a square of mint milk chocolate.

Brasserie Benedict with toasted croissants, jambon de Bayonne, poached eggs and sauce béarnaise $13.50

Two juicy soft poached eggs on medium thick slices of normal tasting ham on mini crispy buttery croissants. Topped with a thick and creamy, sour buttery sauce. The small pickles inbetween the two eggs were very crunchy, very sour and vinegary. The sauce on the eggs also reminded me almost of tartar sauce because there were some crunchy sour bits (maybe bits of pickles?) in it. Similar to the normal eggs benedict but more vinegary. Also a little on the salty side, but it didn’t bother me much, I enjoyed the eggs just as well!
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Shake Shack is really a shack.

Run by the same owner who is famous for Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe, Shake Shack is pretty much a small tin box in the south east corner of Madison Square Park which serves fancy burgers and ice cream from their windows (this isn’t your average fast food). After picking up your food, you can seat yourself at one of the many small tables beneath trees lit up by strings of lights like fireflies at night.

Orders are taken at one window, and food is served through another window around the corner.

There aren’t many people in this photo, but I took this after I ate. When I arrived at 8:50pm that Tuesday, it was crowded with people waiting for their orders! I had to wait hungrily in a long line, and it took 40 minutes before I got my food. Don’t come too hungry, and be ready to wait! You can check out the line beforehand on their webcam.

Tray (cardboard box) of what I ordered.

A regular sized vanilla shake, one Shack Burger, one ‘Shroom Burger, and an order of cheese fries. The burgers are on the small side, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (for your health)!
Continue eating..